Zayna had done a fairly good job of not getting into any trouble while being stuck in the past. She'd stuck to her family, helped out at the shop, and played some hockey. Played some hockey well, too. So well, in fact, that she'd apparently made herself an enemy. She was sure the blonde elf staring her down at Annie's was mom to one of the Elvish Eagles. The skinny guy Zayna had flattened in the third period right before scoring a goal.
She hadn't been entirely sure of that fact until the woman had gotten in her face and shrieked something about her precious prince and the ice. There were also a few choice words about Zayna being a brutish human and a cheat. And maybe in retrospect it did look like Zayna had spilt her coffee on the woman on purpose, but really she was just a little hungover from drinking wine with Seren and mocking real estate reality shows the night before, and so she tripped over her own feet.
Several minutes of arguing had gotten her nowhere. "Ma'am, listen. I can only apologize so many times. If you just hold still, I can dry your shirt and we can all be on our way." Zayna thought she sounded reasonable and serious. But you'd think she pulled out a knife with the way the woman recoiled at the sight of her wand.
The shop had been relatively busy that morning. That tended to happen around the holidays as witches prepared for their rituals and their worship. With Samhain around the corner, people were coming and going to stock up on missing supplies, or perhaps looking for something new to add to their practice. A group of young elemental witches were on their way out of the shop with a wave, chatting about their upcoming plans.
With their exit, the shop became quiet for the first time all day. She sighed, stretching her hands above her head to work out kinks in her spine, before turning to head out back. A cup of tea was calling her name while she still had the time to enjoy it.
She was rummaging through her tea collection, trying to select what she wanted to drink when a tug in her mind made her pause. It felt like Zayna. The older Zayna, because the younger Zayna didn’t have any sort of mental walls, or any real control or regulations of her emotions. When it was her baby, it was an entirely different feeling. But it was still a feeling that told her that something just wasn’t quite right. Not an emergency. There was no immediate threat as far as she could tell, but still enough to draw her focus away.
Frowning, set the tea collection down, grabbed her bag off the table, and headed back out to the shop. Magic let her shut down the shop in seconds, lights off, protective wards in place, sign on the door flipped before she stepped outside and locked the door behind her.
Once outside, she stopped and closed her eyes, focusing in on the feeling and allowing it to guide her to where she’d find Zayna. She couldn’t see her specifically, but the outside of the coffee shop Annie’s flashed in her mind, and a second later Bonnie was gone from the front of her shop, teleporting toward Annie’s in search of the older version of her daughter.
Zayna wasn't surprised to see her mother at the door to the coffee shop. She hadn't been consciously sending out a signal, but she hadn't been blocking either. She'd been too busy trying to calm this woman down.
"You think you're going to use magic on me now? After scalding me?" Blondie really had a special shriek of a voice. But Zayna stayed quiet and calm, with only frustration bleeding into her voice.
"I was going to dry your shirt. I don't know any healing spells, but if you're really hurt--"
"If I'm really hurt!"
Zayna lifted her hands and sent an imploring gaze towards Bonnie. She was a grown adult, of course, but that didn't stop her from knowing her mother was a powerhouse in a crisis.
It didn’t take Bonnie long to find Annie's; she had landed just a few doors down from the coffee shop. It wasn’t hard to spot Zayna inside the shop from there. She opened the door and stepped inside. It was hard not to narrow in on the woman she was talking to. She was likely the cause of whatever causing Zayna to feel this way, but Bonnie had no context for the situation.
Zayna knew she was there, so Bonnie took a few steps into the shop so she wasn’t blocking the door for others to get in and out- though at this point most of them seemed to be watching whatever this confrontation was. Some of them even seemed to have their phones out. Typical. Bonnie hung back, keeping both women in her direct eyesight and making sure she could clearly see Zayna’s face. Whatever was happening, she wanted to step in, but held back for now until there was any indication she should involve herself. This version of her daughter was a grown woman, older than Bonnie herself actually, she doubted Zayna needed any version of her mom to inject herself in a situation. But just in case.
Zayna looked flustered. She’d hoped the glance at her mother would be enough to get Bonnie to step in. She couldn’t actually ask for help, out loud. She was nearly thirty, not the toddler Bonnie was currently raising. Zayna swallowed dryly and lowered her wand.
“Are you hurt?” she asked. It was probably bad that she’d assumed this was all for show. Maybe she had burned this woman with her coffee. “I really am sorry. The tables in here are different in my time and I—”
“Or please, with your weird Outlander excuses!” Zayna didn't correct the woman. While she wasn’t an Outlander, many of the people important to her were. “Just forget it!” The woman swiped napkins out of another customer’s hands and dabbed at herself as she shoved past, heading for the door.
Bonnie had missed the cue, she saw that when she saw the flustered look from Zayna. Shit. She had half a mind to let her go past, until she shoved past Zayna. In response Bonnie backtracked, planting herself in front of the door and the woman.
“What?” the woman demanded when it became clear that Bonnie was very purposely in her path and blocking the door. “You’re in my way!” This was the kind of woman who probably deserved to be slapped. She really hoped someone did exactly that some day, because as much as she wanted to, Bonnie wasn’t in a position to be able to do it herself.
“Your entitlement stinks. You owe her an apology for your behavior, not that I actually expect you to get over yourself to actually do that.” Bonnie said flatly. “But let me be very clear, you’re lucky she is who she is. Because if that had been me this would have gone very differently. She apologized for the coffee spill, which at this point is more than you deserve. The next time you’re considering summoning the audacity to speak to people that way? Don’t.”
“Excuse me, who d-” Bonnie cut her off, by stepping aside and waving to the door. “You’re excused. Have the day you deserve.” When the woman opened her mouth to argue again, Bonnie raised one of her hands, not actually doing any magic but the implication was that she could do something with those hands. “Unless you want to see Outlander magic up close and personal. Since you seem to have an interest in us already.” Was Bonnie threatening someone in a coffee shop? Yeah, but also this wouldn’t be the first time something like that had happened before.
Bonnie wasn’t sure how long they stood there staring at each other, she watched half a dozen emotions cross the woman's face, from rage, to concern, to something more considering. She didn’t waste her time trying to get an actual psychic read on the woman. Finally the woman draw herself up, chin held just a little too high and started for the door again, muttering something about Outlanders that Bonnie didn’t care to hear.
When she was gone, Bonnie turned to Zayna with an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know if you wanted me to stay out of it or not.” She hadn’t quite figured out how to navigate helping her kids that were not babies.
Zayna tried very hard to keep a straight face but it was impossible. Her mom may as well have been ten feet tall for how she commanded everyone’s attention. Zayna was pretty sure everyone held their breath until the woman was out the door and there was a collective exhale. A couple of younger people even clapped and the kid behind the counter looked relieved. It was possible this wasn’t the first such encounter with that particular stressor. Zayna was just glad no one seemed interested in causing them any more trouble.
“What? No, don't be sorry, Mom. You were amazing. The words boss ass bitch come to mind.” Her face caved as she realized she’d just called her mom a bitch, even as a compliment. “Sorry, that was stupid. But still. Thanks.” She darted forward to give Bonnie a hug. “I’m not great with confrontation. On paper, I’m amazing but then someone’s in my face, and I just end up wishing I had all my roller derby gear.”
“I was too.” Bonnie said with a shrug, waving off the apology. Bonnie got it, she knew what the feeling was life. It was a whole lot of horrible things that had changed that for it, but she didn’t need to bring that up. “Sometimes it’s just easier when it’s someone you care about under fire.” She returned the huge with a tight squeeze, largely ignoring everyone else around them. With any luck her face would be over the internet later.
“I kind of wish you had derby gear too, I would have loved to have seen that go down.” Though something told her that watching her play an actual derby game would give Bonnie a whole lot of anxiety. At least she had several years before that became an actual possibility.
As for right now, the elf-women was gone at least. Hopefully with something to think about that would bring a much needed attitude change. “Can I get you another coffee?”
“Yeah, you’re right. I can stand up to bad clients for Seren all day long.” Zayna smiled, some of the tension finally releasing from her shoulders. She’d been very lucky, growing up. Protected and surrounded by strong people. She wasn’t weak by any means, just cautious and careful. If that woman had decided to escalate once Bonnie was involved, she’d have learned that cautious did not mean unwilling to hex an asshole out the door.
“Oh!” Zayna looked towards the door and then back to Bonnie. “You left the shop to come here. Sorry, I usually keep my—” She tapped at her temple. “—Protections up better when it’s not a real emergency but this whole time jump thing has me out of sorts. Why don’t we get that coffee to go? I can help at the shop?”
Bonnie always planned to teach the twins shielding when they got old. It would be necessary when they started to need privacy, building their own lives, and didn’t need Bonnie reacting to every incident. She was glad that did actually happen. But for now she was used to feeling very specific bursts of emotions from the twins, what she got from the adult version was new, and not something she could ignore. “It’s fine, don’t apologize. I’m used to babies, this was a new feeling. I didn’t want to ignore it.”
But she wouldn’t say no to help at the shop. Not because she needed the help, but because it would allow her to spend some more time getting to know adult Zayna as much as she could. “If you’re free, then yeah, I would love it if you came to spend some time at the shop. I’ll grab us both some drinks and then we can head back?” She didn’t want to stay closed for too long with it being a busy time, but she’d shut her shop down at any time if one of her kids needed her, no questions asked.
"I'm glad you didn't ignore it," Zayna smiled. "You never have really. I'm maybe a little spoiled with how much I can count on you." She tucked her arm through her mom's and stepped them into line to order. Bonnie may have been very young, but this part felt normal anyway.
"Now the only thing I really regret about all this is that I didn't record you telling that lady off."